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2002 Los Angeles Sparks season
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
August 2023
March 2026
Los Angeles Sparks 2002 25 7 Western 1st Michael Cooper Staples Center Won WNBA Finals yes
The 2002 WNBA season was the sixth season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks ended the season winning the WNBA Finals for the second straight year.
Transactions
WNBA draft
2002 WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country116Rosalind RossOklahoma230Gergana SlavchevaFIU232Jackie HigginsNorth Carolina348Rashana BarnesPenn State464Tiffany ThompsonOld Dominion
Transactions
DateTransactionApril 19, 2002Traded Ukari Figgs and Gergana Slavcheva to the Portland Fire in exchange for Nikki Teasley and Sophia Witherspoon Drafted Rosalind Ross, Gergana Slavcheva, Jackie Higgins, Rashana Barnes and Tiffany Thompson in the 2002 WNBA draft2002 Los Angeles Sparks Transactions https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/LAS/2002_transactions.html 2024-09-01 Basketball-Reference.com enApril 30, 2002Signed Erika de Souza, Rhonda Smith and Kim WilliamsMay 3, 2002Waived Rashana BarnesMay 8, 2002Waived Tiffany ThompsonMay 13, 2002Waived Jackie Higgins, Kelley Simon, Kim Williams and Nicole LevanduskySigned Vicki Hall, Shala Crawford and Naomi MulitauaopeleMay 16, 2002Waived Rhonda Smith and Wendi WillitsMay 23, 2002Waived Naomi MulitauaopeleJune 7, 2002Signed Katryna GaitherJune 11, 2002Signed Sophia WitherspoonJune 18, 2002Traded a 2003 1st Round Pick to the Miami Sol in exchange for Marlies AskampJune 21, 2002Waived Katryna Gaither
Roster
Los Angeles Sparks 2002 WNBA 41 Marlies Askamp C 6 5 198 1970-07-08 5 West Germany
0 Latasha Byears G/F 5 11 206 1973-08-12 5 DePaul USA
14 Erika de Souza F/C 6 5 190 1982-03-09 R BRA
21 Tamecka Dixon G 5 9 148 1975-12-14 5 Kansas USA
12 Katryna Gaither C 6 3 170 1975-08-13 1 Notre Dame USA
17 Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca G 6 1 160 1975-01-13 2 SFR Yugoslavia
7 Vicki Hall F 6 1 180 1969-10-03 2 Texas USA
9 Lisa Leslie C 6 5 170 1972-07-07 5 USC USA
4 Mwadi Mabika G 5 11 165 1976-07-27 5 Zaire
10 Nicky McCrimmon G 5 8 125 1972-03-22 2 USC USA
8 DeLisha Milton-Jones F 6 1 175 1974-09-11 3 Florida USA
42 Nikki Teasley G 6 0 169 1979-03-22 R North Carolina USA
13 Sophia Witherspoon G 5 10 145 1968-07-06 5 Florida USA USA Michael Cooper New Mexico USA Glenn McDonald basketball
USA Karleen Thompson
Schedule
Regular season
Los Angeles Sparks 2002 Total: 25–7 (Home: 12–4; Road: 13–3)
Los Angeles Sparks May yes 1 0 2 0
|-
| 1
| May 25
| New York
| W 72–64
| Leslie Mabika Witherspoon (14)
| Lisa Leslie (14)
| Tamecka Dixon (7)
| Staples Center
| 1–0
|-
| 2
| May 27
| @ Houston
| W 68–55
| Lisa Leslie (22)
| Lisa Leslie (17)
| Sophia Witherspoon (4)
| Compaq Center
| 2–0
|-
| 3
| May 30
| @ Miami
| W 69–65
| Mwadi Mabika (17)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (8)
| Nikki Teasley (5)
| American Airlines Arena
| 3–0
Los Angeles Sparks June 5 1 4 1
|-
| 4
| June 1
| @ Charlotte
| L 87–94 (OT)
| Lisa Leslie (26)
| Lisa Leslie (12)
| Nikki Teasley (6)
| Charlotte Coliseum
| 3–1
|-
| 5
| June 3
| Portland
| W 89–72
| Lisa Leslie (25)
| Lisa Leslie (18)
| Nikki Teasley (7)
| Staples Center
| 4–1
|-
| 6
| June 8
| @ Minnesota
| W 76–72
| Mwadi Mabika (21)
| Byears Leslie Mabika (7)
| Lisa Leslie (5)
| Target Center
| 5–1
|-
| 7
| June 11
| Detroit
| W 90–80
| Leslie Milton-Jones (18)
| Lisa Leslie (9)
| Nikki Teasley (8)
| Staples Center
| 6–1
|-
| 8
| June 15
| @ Sacramento
| W 72–66 (OT)
| Mwadi Mabika (19)
| Lisa Leslie (11)
| Tamecka Dixon (5)
| ARCO Arena
| 7–1
|-
| 9
| June 18
| @ Seattle
| W 80–68
| Mwadi Mabika (23)
| Mabika Milton-Jones (9)
| Dixon Mabika (4)
| KeyArena
| 8–1
|-
| 10
| June 21
| Minnesota
| W 73–64
| Lisa Leslie (23)
| Lisa Leslie (9)
| Nikki Teasley (5)
| Staples Center
| 9–1
|-
| 11
| June 25
| Phoenix
| W 89–66
| Mwadi Mabika (20)
| Lisa Leslie (12)
| Nikki Teasley (9)
| Staples Center
| 10–1
|-
| 12
| June 27
| Washington
| W 73–66
| Mwadi Mabika (20)
| Lisa Leslie (14)
| Nikki Teasley (7)
| Staples Center
| 11–1
|-
| 13
| June 28
| @ Phoenix
| W 84–72
| Lisa Leslie (18)
| Leslie Milton-Jones (14)
| Nikki Teasley (6)
| America West Arena
| 12–1
|-
| 14
| June 30
| Houston
| L 58–60
| Mwadi Mabika (18)
| Latasha Byears (11)
| Tamecka Dixon (7)
| Staples Center
| 12–2
Los Angeles Sparks July 5 1 3 2
|-
| 15
| July 5
| Sacramento
| W 87–65
| Lisa Leslie (16)
| Leslie Milton-Jones (9)
| Nikki Teasley (5)
| Staples Center
| 13–2
|-
| 16
| July 7
| Utah
| W 102–75
| Tamecka Dixon (20)
| Lisa Leslie (8)
| Tamecka Dixon (8)
| Staples Center
| 14–2
|-
| 17
| July 11
| @ Seattle
| L 60–79
| Lisa Leslie (21)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)
| Mabika Teasley (3)
| KeyArena
| 14–3
|-
| 18
| July 12
| @ Portland
| W 82–76 (OT)
| Mwadi Mabika (32)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (13)
| Mwadi Mabika (6)
| Rose Garden
| 15–3
|-
| 19
| July 17
| @ Indiana
| W 73–58
| Mwadi Mabika (27)
| Lisa Leslie (14)
| Nikki Teasley (4)
| Conseco Fieldhouse
| 16–3
|-
| 20
| July 18
| @ New York
| L 59–72
| Lisa Leslie (16)
| Lisa Leslie (11)
| Tamecka Dixon (4)
| Madison Square Garden
| 16–4
|-
| 21
| July 20
| @ Cleveland
| W 63–50
| Mwadi Mabika (15)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)
| Nikki Teasley (8)
| Gund Arena
| 17–4
|-
| 22
| July 22
| Orlando
| W 92–84
| Lisa Leslie (24)
| Lisa Leslie (21)
| Lisa Leslie (8)
| Staples Center
| 18–4
|-
| 23
| July 24
| Portland
| W 73–69
| Lisa Leslie (21)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (13)
| Dixon Mabika McCrimmon Milton-Jones (3)
| Staples Center
| 19–4
|-
| 24
| July 28
| Indiana
| W 80–62
| Mwadi Mabika (22)
| Lisa Leslie (9)
| Nikki Teasley (7)
| Staples Center
| 20–4
|-
| 25
| July 30
| Miami
| L 73–82
| Mwadi Mabika (17)
| Lisa Leslie (8)
| Nicky McCrimmon (6)
| Staples Center
| 20–5
Los Angeles Sparks August 1 2 4 0
|-
| 26
| August 1
| Seattle
| L 76–81
| Lisa Leslie (30)
| Lisa Leslie (16)
| Nikki Teasley (7)
| Staples Center
| 20–6
|-
| 27
| August 3
| @ Sacramento
| W 81–71
| Mwadi Mabika (20)
| Lisa Leslie (9)
| Mwadi Mabika (9)
| ARCO Arena
| 21–6
|-
| 28
| August 4
| Utah
| W 90–86
| Lisa Leslie (26)
| Mwadi Mabika (7)
| Mwadi Mabika (6)
| Staples Center
| 22–6
|-
| 29
| August 8
| Houston
| L 64–67
| Mwadi Mabika (27)
| Leslie Milton-Jones (12)
| Tamecka Dixon (5)
| Staples Center
| 22–7
|-
| 30
| August 9
| @ Utah
| W 85–77
| Lisa Leslie (19)
| Mwadi Mabika (9)
| Nikki Teasley (6)
| Delta Center
| 23–7
|-
| 31
| August 11
| @ Minnesota
| W 69–58
| Mwadi Mabika (16)
| Nikki Teasley (6)
| Tamecka Dixon (7)
| Target Center
| 24–7
|-
| 32
| August 13
| @ Phoenix
| W 63–56
| Lisa Leslie (23)
| Lisa Leslie (11)
| Mabika Milton-Jones (3)
| America West Arena
| 25–7
las 2002
Playoffs
Los Angeles Sparks yes 2002
Los Angeles Sparks First round vs. Seattle StormWon Series: 2–0 yes yes no
|-
| 1
| August 15
| @ Seattle
| W 78–61
| Lisa Leslie (24)
| Lisa Leslie (9)
| Nikki Teasley (8)
| KeyArena
| 1–0
|-
| 2
| August 17
| Seattle
| W 69–59
| Lisa Leslie (23)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (10)
| Mabika Teasley (4)
| Staples Center
| 2–0
Los Angeles Sparks Conference Finals vs. Utah StarzzWon Series: 2–0 yes no
|-
| 1
| August 22
| @ Utah
| W 75–67
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (17)
| Lisa Leslie (8)
| DeLisha Milton-Jones (5)
| Delta Center
| 1–0
|-
| 2
| August 24
| Utah
| W 103–77
| Lisa Leslie (25)
| Mwadi Mabika (9)
| Nikki Teasley (9)
| Staples Center
| 2–0
Los Angeles Sparks WNBA Finals vs. New York LibertyWon Series: 2–0 yes no
|-
| 1
| August 29
| @ New York
| W 71–63
| Mwadi Mabika (20)
| Latasha Byears (11)
| Nikki Teasley (11)
| Madison Square Garden
| 1–0
|-
| 2
| August 31
| New York
| W 69–66
| Lisa Leslie (17)
| Latasha Byears (11)
| Nikki Teasley (11)
| Staples Center
| 2–0
LAS yes 2002
Season standings
LAS
Statistics
Regular season
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Lisa Leslie 31 31 34.2 .466 .324 .727 10.4 2.7 1.5 2.9 16.9 Mwadi Mabika 32 32 32.8 .423 .366 .839 5.2 2.9 1.2 0.3 16.8 Tamecka Dixon 30 30 31.9 .391 .351 .831 3.1 4.0 0.9 0.2 10.6 DeLisha Milton-Jones 32 25 30.2 .487 .420 .740 6.6 1.4 1.6 1.1 11.3 Nikki Teasley 32 32 27.6 .404 .400 .750 2.6 4.4 0.8 0.3 6.4 Latasha Byears 26 5 18.7 .618 N/A .566 5.4 0.5 0.7 0.2 7.0 Sophia Witherspoon 31 1 11.5 .415 .418 .761 0.9 0.9 0.4 0.1 5.2 Nicky McCrimmon 32 0 11.1 .408 .267 .636 0.7 1.7 0.7 0.1 1.6 Marlies Askamp 20 4 10.8 .473 .000 .643 2.5 0.2 0.6 0.2 3.1 Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca 12 0 6.6 .387 .417 .667 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.0 2.6 Vicki Hall 3 0 6.3 .500 .000 .750 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 2.3Katryna Gaither105.0.000N/AN/A1.01.00.00.00.0Erika de Souza1103.7.357N/A.2001.30.20.30.01.1
‡Waived/Released during the season
†Traded during the season
≠Acquired during the season
Awards and honors
Lisa Leslie, Best WNBA Player ESPY Award
References
Sparks on Basketball Reference
Category:Los Angeles Sparks seasons
Los Angeles
Category:WNBA championship seasons
Category:Western Conference (WNBA) championship seasons
Los Angeles Sparks